The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
For evaluating climate change impacts on biodiversity, extensive experiments are urgently needed to complement popular non-mechanistic models which map future ecosystem properties onto their current climatic niche. Here, we experimentally test the main prediction of these models by means of a novel multi-site approach. We implement rainfall manipulations—irrigation and drought—to …
Rainfall prediction is very crucial for India as its economy is based on mainly agriculture. The parameters that are required to predict the rainfall are very complex in nature and also contain lots of uncertainties. Although various approaches have been earlier suggested for prediction, the soft computing is found to …
California saw its driest year on record in 2013, and the drought is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. More than ever, urban water managers are seeking effective strategies to address water scarcity, with increasing interest in reducing residential water demand. To help achieve these goals, researchers at UCR’s …
Groundwater is essential to modern human survival during drought periods. There is also growing geological evidence of springs associated with stone tools and hominin fossils in the East African Rift System (EARS) during a critical period for hominin evolution (from 1.8 Ma). However it is not known how vulnerable these …
The cracked ground beneath Charles Brett's boots is so dry that even the weeds have capitulated in the fading soil. While Sydney endured its wettest August in 15 years, a few millimetres of rain has barely made a dent for farmers in north-west NSW who are enduring their worst drought …
Water is crucial to plant growth and development. Environmental water deficiency triggers an osmotic stress signalling cascade, which induces short-term cellular responses to reduce water loss and long-term responses to remodel the transcriptional network and physiological and developmental processes. Several signalling components that have been identified by extensive genetic screens …
When a scorching drought struck eastern Australia in 2006, cattle farmers Robyn and Paul Kendal had to slaughter nearly all their livestock and spend around a year of their normal turnover on feed to keep the remainder alive. With a recurrence of El Nino, the weather pattern behind the drought, …
The State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) for Karnataka has unanimously passed a resolution giving effect to the rescheduling of term loans amounting to Rs 1,357 crore, including the principal and interest to debt-stressed grape and pomegranate growers. The banks have also agreed to extend fresh line of credit irrespective of …
Drought-hit state plans $140m expansion at world’s biggest treatment facility to recycle more waste water. Senior Plant Operator waits as water is used to push a membrane out from a pressure vessel in the Reverse Osmosis facility, which is part of the Groundwater Replenishing System in Orange County Water District, …
The Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), North East Zone, has advised farmers to embrace insurance culture to safeguard their investment against calamities caused by climate change. The Zonal Manager, Malam Ahmed Arabi, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Bauchi. Arabi …
The National Water Account 2013 Summary provides an overview of water availability and use in 2012–13 for nine nationally significant water management regions of Australia.
Streamflow of the Colorado River Basin is the most over-allocated in the world. Recent assessment indicates that demand for this renewable resource will soon outstrip supply, suggesting that limited groundwater reserves will play an increasingly important role in meeting future water needs. Here we analyze nine years (December 2004 to …
Accurate assessments of forest response to current and future climate and human actions are needed at regional scales. Predicting future impacts on forests will require improved analysis of species-level adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability to mortality. Land system models can be enhanced by creating trait-based groupings of species that better represent …
Cooling of the Pacific Ocean over the last month means the El Niño forecast to hit later this year is increasingly unlikely to be a strong event, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said on Tuesday. The BOM maintained its forecast for an El Niño to form over the next …
The government has taken steps to provide drought relief to people in the Anuradhapura district. The relief will be provided under the Weda sadaha mudal laba deeme program (giving money for work program) through the Anuradhapura District Secretariat in collaboration with the Govi Jana Seva Department, Iirrigation Department and the …
NEW DELHI: Drought-like conditions are intensifying as the monsoon hasn't moved an inch for 10 days now, leaving oilseeds, pulses and paddy fields parched and posing the threat of food inflation and weak rural demand in the first year of the Narendra Modi government. Prices of vegetables and onions are …
Even as 106 villages in Kutch district have already been declared semi-drought-hit, the Gujarat government is likely to double the number soon with the Relief Commissioner’s office sending a fresh proposal to add around 100 more villages to the list in the same region. The state government had identified these …
Africa is a rich continent. Some of those riches – especially oil, gas and minerals – have driven rapid economic growth over the past decade. The ultimate measure of progress, however, is the wellbeing of people – and Africa’s recent growth has not done nearly as much as it should …
